Despite the large number of bullet holes in trees, cars, houses and garage doors, life is returning to normal for the neighbors on Redbeam Avenue where LAPD officers opened fire on unarmed newspaper carriers on Feb. 7, 2013, wounding them. On Feb. 9, Julia Gleichman, above, walks her dog Shirley past the scene. (Scott Varley/LANG)

Gouges left by a storm of stray bullets remained visible in trees, cars and garage doors on Saturday afternoon residents on Redbeam Avenue in Torrance began their return to normalcy.

But what happened just two days earlier was still on everyone's mind.

Before dawn on Thursday morning, neighbors were awakened to the sound of a hail of gun shots as Los Angeles police officers opened fire on a pickup truck delivering newspapers in the 19400 and 19500 blocks of Redbeam. It was a case of mistaken identity in the the story of a rogue L.A. fugitive cop that has gripped the nation now for days.

"I was in a dead sleep but my wife was awake," said Larry Nowak who lives about two blocks away. "She said, 'There's gunfire outside.

Hernandez sustained two gunshot wounds in her back and remains hospitalized but is expected to survive. Her daughter sustained minor injuries to her hand either from a bullet or broken glass.

But at the time, neighbors who were awakened by the sudden burst of gunfire followed by bullhorn orders for neighbors to remain indoors had no idea what was going on.

"My assumption was police had pulled somebody over and some kind of trouble ensued," said Jack Holman who lives in a house right next to where the shooting occurred.

His wife, who had been ill, was downstairs at the time and he was upstairs. He told her to stay put.

The truck, Holman, said, apparently made a "California stop" at the corner of Deelane Street about a block away, slowly turning right onto Redbeam and heading east toward Holman's block, just a few houses from where the police captain under guard lived.

Some reports have said the truck's lights were out and the women were tossing newspapers from the windows.

On Staurday -- a crisp, sunny day -- Holman was working in his garage.

Cars all around him were hit by flying bullets, but his property was unscathed.

He said many neighbors are familiar with the sound of gunshots because there is a police shooting range not far away.

But another woman said her daughter at first thought the sounds were firecrackers.

The woman, who asked that her name not be used, was in Mexico with her husband while their daughter and her family -- who live in Harbor City -- were housesitting on Redbeam.

"I heard pop-pop-pop," said Bonniegay Bacon who was out taking a walk on Saturday.

Two days after the Feb. 7, 2013 incident in which LAPD officers looking for fugitive Christopher Dorner shot up a pickup truck driven by newspaper carriers, an SUV parked on a driveway near the Torrance scene has this bullet hole. Two women were wounded. (Scott Varley/LANG)

Mike Conover, who was walking his dog Rusty, said his wife thought the early morning shooting may have been a domestic dispute.

"But there were so many rounds," he said.

"I slept through it but my parents were up," said Julia Gleichman who also was walking her dog on Saturday.

Most said the police reaction was wrong.

"Even their silhouettes couldn't have possibly looked like (Dorner)," Conover said, calling it an overreaction.

Gleichman called it a case of police brutality.

It's strange, Holman said, that the police didn't take the time to get a better look at the truck and its occupants.

"But I'm not in the shoes of those police officers," he said. "They were on edge, one of their brothers had been killed."

John Fitzpatrick of Rolling Hills Estates -- who came back to his old neighborhood on Saturday to see where the crime occurred -- said police "didn't do their due diligence" in this case. "It's OK to be on alert, but they should not have been that overzealous."

Most of those interviewed weren't worried that Dorner would come to their neighborhood. Some speculated that the captain and his family being guarded had moved out of the neighborhood for the time being.

"I don't think he'll come here. I just hope they catch him," said one neighbor.

Many said Dorner will probably be caught or killed soon, but added that he seemed to be staying well ahead of his would-be captors.

"I think he was long gone (from Big Bear) before they got there," said Norwak whose daughter is currently staying at the family's cabin in the ski resort where police had been searching for Dorner since Friday. "He's been ahead of them all along."

Several neighbors said they expect Dorner to surface soon in another violent outburst.

"Either that or he'll kill himself," Gleichman said.

Fitzpatrick predicted he'll be found sometime in the next few days but said he wouldn't expect him to commit suicide before he is caught.